The Asian Studies program celebrated Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month in May with dance, music, poetry, a “Zen Walk,” presentations and panel discussions.
The celebration included a poetry reading with award-winning Taiwanese poet Cheng Chou-Yu, poet-in-residence and faculty emeritus at Yale University. Since his debut with “Above the Space of Dreams” in 1955, Chou-Yu has become one of the most widely read poets in the Chinese language. The poetry reading was part of “Frontier Taiwan: Poetry, Politics, and Identity,” in which University professors John Hill, English, and Linda Ledford-Miller, Ph.D., world languages and cultures, and students from Chinese Mandarin classes also participated. A reception following the event included a photo display courtesy of The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, the event’s co-sponsor. Also, sisters Emiko and Yasuko Tokunaga, founders and co-directors of the Tokunaga Dance Ko, presented “Japanese Culture through Dance: Its History and Comparison with the United States” in conjunction with the Schemel Forum. In addition, Ann Pang-White, Ph.D., director of Asian Studies and professor of philosophy led a “Zen Walk” (walking meditation for inner peace) on the Dionne Campus Green on May 3. University faculty also presented “University of Scranton Scholars in Taiwan: A Week of Inter-Cultural Engagement.” Participants were Iordanis Petsas, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Economics and Finance Department, Sufyan Mohammed, Ph.D., assistant professor of communication, and Matthew Meyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of philosophy.